The Guernsey Martyrs were three women who were
burned at the stake
Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
for their
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
beliefs, in
Guernsey,
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
, in 1556 during the
Marian persecutions
Protestants were executed in England under heresy laws during the reigns of Henry VIII (1509–1547) and Mary I (1553–1558). Radical Christians also were executed, though in much smaller numbers, during the reigns of Edward VI (1547–155 ...
.
Trial
Guillemine Gilbert and Perotine Massey were sisters, who lived with their mother, Catherine Cauchés (sometimes given as "Katherine Cawches"). Perotine was the wife of a
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
minister, who was in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, possibly to avoid persecution. The three women were brought to court on a charge of receiving a stolen goblet. Although they were found to be not guilty of that charge, it emerged that their religious views were contrary to those required by the church authorities. They were returned to prison in
Castle Cornet and later found guilty of heresy by an
Ecclesiastical court held in the
Town Church and handed over to the Royal Court for sentencing where they were condemned to death.
Execution
The execution was carried out on or around 18 July 1556.
All three were burnt on the same fire; they ought to have been strangled beforehand, but the rope broke before they died and they were thrown into the fire alive.
John Foxe recorded that Perotine was "great with child" and that "the belly of the woman burst asunder by the vehemence of the flame, the infant, being a fair man-child, fell into the fire". The baby was rescued by a W. House and laid on the grass,
[ taken by the Provost to the Bailiff, Hellier Gosselin who ordered that "it should be carried back again, and cast into the fire".][
]
Legacy
On the death of Queen Mary (1558), the Bailiff and the Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
élite of the island were subjected to a series of commissions and investigations encompassing not only the circumstances of the execution of the women, but also embezzlement; James Amy, the Dean, was committed to prison in Castle Cornet and dispossessed of his living. Gosselin was dismissed from his post in 1562 but along with the Jurats managed to obtain a pardon from Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
.[
Reactions to the executions played a role in the rise of Calvinism in the Channel Islands.
In 1567 Thomas Harding criticised Foxe's account, not for his description of the event, for which Foxe quotes eye-witnesses and official documents, but on the grounds that Perotine Massey was responsible for the death of her own child; had she revealed in court that she was pregnant, "]pleading the belly
Pleading the belly was a process available at English common law, which permitted a woman in the later stages of pregnancy to receive a reprieve of her death sentence until after she bore her child. The plea was available at least as early as 138 ...
", the execution would have had to have been postponed until after the birth.
A memorial plaque to the martyrs can be found on the Tower Hill steps in Saint Peter Port
St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958.
St. ...
, near the site of the execution. It was unveiled at a commemorative service on 24 April 1999.
See also
* List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation
References
Further reading
“Murder not then the fruit within my womb”: Shakespeare’s Joan, Foxe’s Guernsey Martyr, and Women Pleading Pregnancy in Early Modern English History and Culture
Seizing the stake: Female martyrdom in England during the Reformation
Women in The Book Of Martyrs as Models of Behavior in Tudor England
Night Seasons: Trauma, history, and the uses of women's martyrdom in seventeenth-century Puritan literature
Heresy and Infanticide in ‘Catholic’ Guernsey
{{1500sProtestantwomen
16th-century Protestant martyrs
People executed under Mary I of England
People executed for heresy
People executed by burning
Guernsey Protestants
Guernsey women
History of Guernsey
Year of birth unknown
Groups of Christian martyrs of the Early Modern era
1556 deaths
1556 in Europe
People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning
Executed British people
Martyred groups
Executed children
Protestant martyrs of England